Arnold Abbott’s on a mission to feed the homeless and he won’t let a newly enacted law in Fort Lauderdale stand in his way.
Abbott’s been cited with a criminal violation three times since the city’s ban on “public food sharing” went into effect Oct. 22. His most recent arrest came Wednesday night, according to WSVN.com.
The station reported that Abbott, as promised, was out on Fort Lauderdale Beach feeding the homeless Wednesday when local police parted the crowd to issue the elderly man his third criminal citation. They did, however, allow him to continue feeding the hungry who had gathered.
The brouhaha over Abbott’s determination to feed the hungry began Nov. 2 when he and two local pastors were arrested for feeding people in Fort Lauderdale’s Stranahan Park.
Abbott is the founder of Love Thy Neighbor, a local nonprofit that helps the homeless. He’d only handed out a few of the 300 meals he had prepared when police told him to stop or else.
Abbott, who battled the city’s ban on feeding homeless on the beach back in 1999 and won, wrote on his Facebook page that an officer told him to “’Drop that plate immediately.’ As though it were a weapon.”
Abbott now says he has filed a motion against the city to uphold that 1999 ruling. In the meantime, he promised via Facebook to continue showing up at 5:30 each Wednesday on Fort Lauderdale Beach to feed the homeless.
The second criminal citation against Abbott was written last Wednesday as he was feeding homeless on the beach. The new law carries a penalty of up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
